BOULDER — Mike Bohn was introduced as just the sixth athletic director in University of Colorado history Wednesday morning, as he has returned to the place where he starred as a prep athlete before embarking on a journey that would take him all over the western half of the United States.

He will begin his appointment immediately after the CU Board of Regents approves his hiring at its next meeting (April 28).  Once officially approved, Bohn will sign a five-year contract with the university with his base compensation $250,000 for the first year.  The contract including incentives totaling up to $100,000 annually, which will be tied to specific performance goals.

Bohn, 44, comes to Colorado from San Diego State University, where he left an indelible imprint in just 18 months as the Aztecs’ director of athletics.

Interim chancellor Phil DiStefano introduced Bohn to a gathering of about 150 that included the media, coaches and staff, administration, faculty and students.  The announcement took place at Bohn’s request on the south lawn of the CU Recreation Center, adjacent to Sewall Hall, not too far from the heart of the Boulder campus. 

“I am very pleased that we were able to attract someone of Mike's great character, integrity, experience and dedication to athletic and academic success,” DiStefano said.  “It is sufficient to say that I firmly believe this program will be in very good hands with Mike Bohn.

"As an athletic director, I am giving Mike full responsibility for leading this department out of a difficult period into bright days ahead.  We both agree on the need to continue implementing the action plan begun last year, and Mike is fully committed to executing the reforms as well as any other initiatives he may wish to develop."

"I think it (location of the announcement) really embodies the sense of spirit I feel right now on campus and I hope in the community because it is very important for us to engage every constituent group that makes our program great,” Bohn said.  “Donors, fans, students, coaches, staff, the media and people who help represent the great things that are happening here on campus. It is really exciting to learn so much in such a short time about the great things the staff and coaches are doing. The University of Colorado is a diamond. Right now it needs some polishing in some certain areas, but there are some great things in place.

"At many programs across the country there are challenges,” he said.  “That is not unique to the University of Colorado, and I believe that many of those are behind us. I am looking forward to rallying with the people we have and the staff and the supporters. It is important for fans, donors and sponsors to understand their roles, too.  With their support and their engagement and the student body engaged, things will turn around a lot faster than if we begin by continuing to worry about what maybe happened in the past or what wasn't particularly positive.  You have to learn from those, move on and begin to expose that diamond I was talking about that I think is so important.

“It is time for all of us to unite together and build this into something very special that we all know it can be."

Bohn replaces Jack Lengyel, who served as interim athletic director since last December 1; Lengyel took over the position when Dick Tharp stepped down on November 22.  Tharp held the role from 1996 through 2004, as he followed three legendary men in CU athletic history, Harry Carlson (1927-65), Eddie Crowder (1965-84) and Bill Marolt (1984-96).

Aside from Lengyel, who came out of retirement to serve in an interim capacity, Bohn is the first person to be named CU athletic director without having previously worked within the CU system.  Carlson and Crowder were coaches upon being named, Marolt returned to CU where he coached for 10 years before leaving for the U.S. Olympic ski team, and Tharp was a university attorney with strong CU-Boulder campus ties.

"The most important thing I can do is come in here, support the 17 sports and all those head coaches and student-athletes with a level of enthusiasm and energy,” Bohn said.  “I have to support them and create every opportunity I can for them to be successful. I know they have gone through some significant budget cuts, so I have got to find a way to restore that, to inspire people to be involved with this program, have some fun with it and help them be successful.

"One important thing is long-term vision,” he added.  “There is no question that I believe that that has to be a priority for me and the decisions that we make are to do things for the long term. People need to understand that things are not going to happen over night.  We are going to have to work hard to do everything we can to make it go. We are going to make decisions that are sound fiscally, sound based on every aspect of the importance of long-term relationships with virtually everyone we deal with. Whether it is a great corporate sponsor, whether it's a longtime donor or whether it's a coaching staff, we have to keep continuity to do everything we can for the long term."

Bohn’s brief tenure at San Diego State featured many remarkable accomplishments, including the instilling of energy, enthusiasm, accountability and determination into the Aztec staff.  Officially named SDSU athletic director on October 6, 2003, his immediate task was to unify the athletic department, the campus and the community of San Diego.

Bohn strategically and steadily restructured the SDSU athletic department with emphasis on fund raising, fiscal responsibility, compliance and academics.

Under his watch, San Diego State set a new single-game attendance record in football when more than 57,000 fans watched the Aztecs’ win over Idaho State in the 2004 season opener.  The average football attendance of 35,995 in 2004 was the best at the school since 1993, with the increase of 14,369 fans per game marking the third largest attendance jump in the country.

The enthusiasm spread to other sports.  SDSU blanked Houston, 4-0, and set a college baseball record with a crowd of 40,106 on hand in the opener of San Diego’s PETCO Park.  When the Aztecs hosted Colorado State in a 2005 Big Monday basketball battle, SDSU set a school record with nearly 4,000 students crammed into Cox Arena for the event.

He landed the San Diego State position after serving five years as athletic director at the University of Idaho (1999-2003), where he first made his mark as a lead administrator in the area of transformation. 

At Idaho, he developed projects for new facilities, increased community and corporate support, and produced balanced budgets for the department after inheriting an operation that had accumulated a deficit of over $1 million.

During his five years in Moscow, he oversaw the transition of the Vandals to the Division I-A ranks from the Big Sky Conference.  Under Bohn, Idaho began construction on the Vandal Athletics Center, the first facilities improvement for UI athletics in two decades. He was also the driving force behind a 20-percent increase in the Vandal Scholarship Fund and a $350,000 surge in annual corporate support.

Between Idaho and San Diego State, Bohn hired 12 head coaches in all as well as several administrators.

Bohn prepared for his career goal of becoming a Division I athletic director entirely in the state of Colorado, his adopted “native” state despite being born in Illinois; he moved to Colorado with his family when he was 1-year old.

His first job in athletic administration came at the Air Force Academy, where he worked for the better part of nine years (1984-92).  During his tenure in Colorado Springs, Bohn advanced from an intern to assistant athletic director.  He served as executive director of the Blue and Silver Club, as well as other external operations throughout his stay at the academy.  He played a major role in the increase of football season ticket sales from 6,000 to 20,000 and implemented a fundraising campaign that generated $16 million for stadium improvements.

From 1992 to 1995, Bohn served as Director of Marketing for the College Football Association, where he worked for one of the most respected people in the history of college athletics, Chuck Neinas (the one-time Big Eight Conference commissioner). The CFA, the precursor to the current Bowl Championship Series, consisted of six major football conferences encompassing 67 universities.  He created and developed the CFA “Good Works Team” which recognized significant off-the-field accomplishments in the area of community relations of 11 football student-athletes nationally (a team that is still selected today by the American Football Coaches Association).

Bohn was involved in many facets of the organization's operations, including the administration of a $67 million television package involving ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.  He also formulated a blueprint for the promotion and development of the image of college football as a whole.

He then moved on to Colorado State University, where he spent the next three years (1996-98) as an associate athletic director for the Rams.  At CSU, he was responsible for all external revenue-producing operations, including ticket sales, fund raising through the Greater Ram Club, licensing, corporate sales, signage, capital campaigns and broadcasting rights fees, as well as special events.

Along with increasing revenue on several fronts, Bohn helped escalate student interest in CSU athletics while working with Associated Students of Colorado State University.

He earned his bachelor’s of arts degree from the University of Kansas in 1983, where he was recruited as a quarterback and also played baseball.  He then graduated with a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University in 1984.  While earning his master’s, he worked as a graduate assistant football coach for the Bobcats.

Bohn is a former member of the NCAA Championships Cabinet and the Division I-A Athletics Directors Association Executive Council. During his stay at Idaho, he was a member of the Big West Conference executive committee and served on the University of Idaho executive council.